


Mud Bath

by tigereyes45



Category: Tales of Arcadia (Cartoons)
Genre: Almost Drowning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-13
Updated: 2019-11-13
Packaged: 2021-01-30 05:27:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21422914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tigereyes45/pseuds/tigereyes45
Summary: Jim has been sent on an errand for Merlin. It's in the middle of a waist-deep bog, filled with monsters, and all he needs is a flower.  How hard could it be?
Comments: 5
Kudos: 23





	Mud Bath

**Author's Note:**

> This was requested by rocketlordsworld on tumblr. Their full request was: Okay good I'd love to see a suspenseful story about troll Jim in a knee-deep muddy bog trying to get a flower for Merlin and then two mud monsters form out of the ground and start to attack Jim, just as Jim is getting his amulet out one of the monsters grabs him forcing him to drop the amulet. Then the mud monster puts Jim on his chest and Jim starts to sink into his chest while Jim is trying to get to the amulet. You can write the rest to see what happens to him after and here's an idea of what the bog looks like: With a link to a monster. I did not base the monsters' descriptions based of said link because I did not look at it. (I didn't realize why it was sent until I had already started.)

As his knees sink into the bog Jim swears he will never go on another errand for Merlin again. He could see the blasted purple flower with a blue glow right in front of him. His fingers could almost touch its grey leaves. One would think that with these long troll limbs he would be able to actually reach it. Then again being a mix between rock and flesh wasn't very giving. The humidity in the air wasn’t doing his fur any favors either.

Low growls shake the unstable ground. Despite his best efforts, he falls deeper into the bog. Jim uses the rock in front of him to catch the upper half of his body. Trapped in mud up to his waist now Jim begins to search for his amulet. As his fingers explore the cobbled together troll clothes he could feel sludge slowly pouring in. Filling even his clothes up with the bog he did not want to be in.

Glancing over his shoulder, the trollhunter spies what was shaking him deeper into the mud with every growl. Two giant beings made of the bog itself were growling and walking around in the distance. They almost looked like Angor Rot’s golems, except they were taller, and their limbs were thinner. Jim gives up his search and tries to pull himself up on the rock.

It takes every ounce of his strength just to get his waist free. His futile attempts to clean himself as much as possible resulted in more mud and grime being smeared all over himself. Once he gets home he’s going to have to bath for a week to finally have his fur feel much free.

A shriek fills the air as Jim finally realizes the monsters have noticed him. They lift large parts of the bog right from the ground. Giant holes the size of his body quickly fill in. The bog replenishes itself faster than the trolls’ socks supplies.

Jim starts to search for his amulet again. Desperately searching something solid from the hidden pocket inside his jacket hits his chest. Tearing it free the amulet glows within his hands. Before he could speak one of the monsters smack him off of the rock. His eyes burn as the bog beings to seep into them. He couldn’t hear the splash his body had made as it was thrown in, but he knew that there must have been one. One so powerful it could even rival the ones he and Toby would make in the pool during their summers as children.

Every inch he moves his hand up the bog pulls him further down. It twists him around until he was unsure of which way was up anymore. It felt like his body was falling, but he wasn’t sure. It was impossible to tell anymore. The sensation was eerily similar to how he felt falling through Merlin’s magic in his bathtub. A sense of futility washes over him just as complacency had washed over him then. It made it easier to accept the fact that he was stuck. Jim squeezes his eyes tighter as the breath he held was almost none.

With a jerk, and a grip that was all-encompassing but weak Jim was yanked out of the bog. He gasps for air like a fish out of water. The mud monster that freed him was quick to shove him into their chest. A makeshift prison that held incredibly well against Jim’s struggling. He presses a hand against a rock stuck in the beat only to have both fall within. Slowly the inside of the creature was rotating him. Doing it’s best to pull all his limbs in.

A flash of blue sent Jim’s hopes flying. There next to the rock was the amulet. With his one free arm, Jim reaches out for it. His face contorts in pain as he tries his best to summon the force right out of the movies, just to bring it back to him. The mud monster begins to turn around. Jim kicks as slowly as he can while they’re surrounded by the living bog monster’s insides. As his eyes lose sight of the amulet, the trees begin to shake. Their leaves move violently as Claire comes flying from the woods. She lands herself on top of a solid patch of land on the edge of the bog. Relief and hope swell up inside of him. He wasn’t going to die after all.

“Jim! Why do you even leave without me if you can’t take care of yourself?” Claire focuses her magic in her hands. It glows a violet color with just a tint of yellow as it gathers there. It swirls the way a massive gas ball might. With a smirk, Claire pulls the ball back with one of her hands. She throws it like she’s a professional pitcher.

It was a fair question. One Jim only answers with a smile as her magic tears the left arm off of the monster that held him. Dry dirt that was probably supposed to represent blood sprays all over his face. The limbs lie still on the ground. The bog rises up to meet it, taking the arm back into the source. As it disappears the limb begins to reform on the end of the stump.

“They’re golems Jim! Find the core!”

“I can’t move!”

“Let it swallow you!” Claire orders as she jumps back, narrowing avoiding a boulder thrown by the other monster.

“What?”

“Let. It. Swallow. YOU.” She shouts throwing more magic at them between every word.

Jim shakes his head before taking a few quick short breaths. “Are you sure about this?”

“Trust her Master Jim! We’ll recover your amulet, and handle this other foul foe.” Blinky reassures him as he comes running out of the woods from the same direction Claire had.

Jim shakes his head before taking a big gulp of air. Jim looks down at the ground as he prepares his body to be thrown back against the weight of the entire creature. His muscles taut, eyes closed, Jim goes for it. He flings the back half of his body into the golem. His head almost doesn’t make it. A bit of dead grass scratches against his face as his body it sucked in. It was somehow cozier inside the chest then it was in the bog itself. Jim still felt oriented too. Almost as if he could stretch out and wear the golem almost like a suit of mud if he wanted too. He might even be tall enough too.

He focuses on the sight of that in his mind as he pushes his arms up through decades of decomposing materials mixed in the mud and water of the bog. He uses the thoughts of throwing his mud armor into enemies’ eyes as a way to keep his mind from focusing on every little thing his hands were touching. Eventually, he feels wood. At first, Jim assumes it was a branch or maybe even a stick that was sucked in. Pushing through the bog the wood was clearly shaped oddly. Fighting back the urge to open his eyes Jim feels around the wood. There were little indents with space between them like arms with pits and w thin circle above them probably for a head.

Using as much force as he could manage with limited movement Jim rims the head off. Suddenly he’s falling, and the swimming sensation is over. He could feel the air hit his face before he felt confident enough to open his eyes. When he does he’s not in the bog. Nor is he in the monster. Instead two of Blinky’s arms wrap him tightly to the troll’s chest.

“I recommend bathing in a pond next time, Master Jim.”

“Thanks Blinky.” One of the troll’s extra arms reach around and drop the amulet on Jim’s chest. The other rests the flower beside it.

“Your welcome. Shall we return.”

Jim nods weakly before letting his head fall back. Claire was smiling at the two with her phone out. He would most likely hear from his mom later, about the lastest photo Claire had shared. His body feels lighter as Blinky carries him out fo the bog. Every drop that falls free of his clothes and fur make him more comfortable.

“I swear the next  _ errand _ Merlin has for us, I’m going to tell him to ask someone else.”

“He’ll just make it harder.”

“I kno-ow,” A yawn interrupts his short response.

“Rest. We’ll be there shortly enough.”

Jim was already fast asleep in Blinky’s arms. When they get back to the others, Claire sets up a makeshift bed for him to rest in beside his regular one. That way the mud, grass, and dead things that traveled along with him wouldn’t be able to get all over his own bed. Merlin tried to wake him up a couple of times, but a different troll was always there to stop him. For once everyone agreed, it was time to just let the trollhunter rest.


End file.
